Love was well and truly in the air yesterday, as one lucky couple won their dream engagement ring live on Drive It with The 2 Johnnies' Valentine's Day show.
Knowing well that the right ring is crucial for cinching the deal – as Johnny Smacks shared his own engagement story on air – The 2 Johnnies invited three couples to try their luck at winning an engagement ring from Paul Sheeran Jewellers in Dublin worth €5,000.
Bríd Hannon and Jimmy Dillane are recently engaged and on the hunt for their perfect ring. Originally from Limerick but now living in Dublin, the pair met in secondary school and have been together 13 years.
Speaking to Sheeran himself ahead of the romantic face-off, the hosts asked if Valentine's Day is still a popular day to pop the question, or is that just something we see in the movies?
"Absolutely", Sheeran said. "Today is the day. It put me in good mood walking around Grafton St watching all the bunches of roses going along."
Sheeran added that it's not just in the lead up to Valentine's Day either, as many men come into the shop on the day to search for the right ring to propose to that night. He'd even had a few in the shop that very day.
"There's a mixture. Today just gets the rush of love, you get the flowers and fellas going, what the hell, or else he forgot! He's looking to get out of trouble."
As for the belief that a man should spend three months' wages on an engagement ring, Sheeran put the kibosh to that. "The budget is what you want to spend. Everyone has a different salary and jewellery I always say ... it's not about the value, it's the moment. The ring means so much to the person who receives it and that's always the way."
As for ring trends, he says diamond is still king, if only for the wear and tear aspect, given they're the hardest natural stone in the world. However, he added, "you will also have coloured stones" like sapphires.
He spoke about the experience of helping a guy to pick the right ring, calling it a "gorgeous environment".
"Guys come in and they're generally nervous, so you have to settle them down, just relax them. Genuinely it's a gorgeous environment because it's very fun-filled, it's a lovely moment in people's lives, and no one will get engaged for the wrong reason, they'll get engaged because it's a journey in life they're starting together."
He added, also, that you don't necessarily need the perfect ring then and there, as promise rings are becoming more popular, with the couple then going to pick the ring together.
Firmly in the romantic mood, Johnny Smacks decided to up the ante by calling his own wife Annie to reminisce about how he popped the question and whether or not she was surprised.
"Sorry, how can I have been surprised?" she deadpanned. "Ye were over on holidays and I'd say ye had how many ... I'd say a few beverages in ye, and I had a few phone calls for the three nights before you came home saying, I'm going getting a ring tomorrow. This kept going on every single night but you never spoke about it the following days."
The hosts then welcomed the three hopeful couples, starting with Bríd, 29, and Jimmy, 30, from Limerick; Aoibhlinn Delaney, 28, and Bryan Kiernan, 32, from Cork and Olivia McCaul and Jamie O'Hagen, both 24, from Louth.
When asked if Jimmy was romantic, Bríd pulled no punches, saying, "Yeah, I suppose, he's grand" before stressing, "No, he's lovely!"
It turns out their proposal was incredibly sweet, as they pair headed off to Murlough Beach in Co Down where Jimmy fooled his bride-to-be into thinking he was taking a photo on timer. In reality, he had the video rolling and caught the full moment on camera.
"I actually helped him, completely oblivious because it's not unlike us to do it!" Bríd recalled.
After some tongue-in-cheek general knowledge questions, they were announced as the winners and wasted no time planning for "whatever 5k brings me". "Jimmy said he might throw a tenner on top", Bríd quipped.
As for Jimmy, he was relieved that the "pressure's off".
Listen back to the full interview here.
